A Tale of Two Bakuras
by DarthWario
Summary: The hidden tale of Ryo and Bakura between Battle City and Millennium World. An ongoing work in progress, and hopefully a good long story.
1. Return of Bakura

The Battle City tournament was finally reaching its final stages, having passed through the preliminaries and finally getting the four duellists needed for a final. It had not been an easy ride, as the tournament was plagued with cheaters, thieves, cultists and more than a few murder attempts. Considering all that had being going on any sane onlooker would wonder just how Seto Kaiba was coping so well, or even how the entire tournament hadn't been called to a close before they had even reached this stage. However, anyone who might be considered important enough to pass any judgement was either unconcerned or indisposed. A large number of the still conscious duellists from on the Kaiba Corp Airship had just been abducted into a digital world, including the CEO of Kaiba Corp himself, leaving the Blimp feeling decidedly quiet. Ishizu was doing all she could to avoid conflict with the menacing figure that was the dark personality inhabiting Marik Ishtars body, while the crew tended to themselves, determined not to involve themselves with anything important, lest they become wrapped up in the sad state of affairs. The other important players still alive were unconscious in their beds, helped occasionally by staff but otherwise left to themselves. The most recent casualty to this was Ryo Bakura.

Already left bedridden twice in this tournament, Ryo had thought the torment set upon him by the spirit that possessed would have finally been over after being knocked out of the tournament and put once more to sleep, but Ryo was never considered a lucky person. A few nights ago the spirit of Marik entered his body, calling the dark spirit that called Ryo's body home to action. The next moments that led to his body being found on the duel deck, minus one valuable gold necklace, were still played back to Ryo in the form of a nightmare.

He didn't move at all in his bed as the terrible scene played out again and again. The dark figure with wild hair standing opposite him, power and evil shining from his eyes and the darkness began to overwhelm. The duel played out part by part, until the blazing phoenix appeared and covered Ryo with flame. The burning sensation filled up his body. If anyone were paying attention they would have noticed his physical forms temperature flare up too. The fire burned him, purging his soul and leaving him in darkness, his spirit almost completely destroyed.

No, not his spirit, but something just as familiar to his form.

As the nightmare played out once more there was, for the first time since it was put back in this room, movement in Ryo's body. It shifted uneasily, as though it were finally catching up to the fact that it should probably be doing something in response to the dream. His entire body seemed to move in small ways, even his hair becoming stiffer and more defined. It was as the fire reached his body in the dream that a brilliant light shone from his chest, a sort of a golden eye. The light filled the room for a few seconds before finally stopping. Then he opened his eyes.

No, he didn't open his eyes, but something else did.

The figure laid there in the bed, surveying the room and piecing together facts it its head. It was not long before it finally sat up to get a better look, the sheets sliding off its chest, before clutching its head in sheer agony.

"It always hurts so much to come back," said not-Ryo, finding slight comfort in stating the obvious in this weakened state. The clutch around the head loosened. "But I am back."

A wide grin grew across his face. "I'm back!" he roared triumphantly, thrusting his arms in the air and instantly regretting it. His arms burned, and he retracted them.

The memories and mind of the body's current inhabitant were still returning, and the strength was slowly plodding back into the body. The dark spirit that had plagued Ryo so much before, the one that had been purged from the body not days before, was already back. He didn't know what he was going to do, but decided anywhere was better than the stagnant air of his current lodgings.

He slowly shifted his legs from under the covers to the side of the bed, gingerly putting pressure on them in his first attempts to stand up. While it didn't feel dignified to the spirit to have to be taking such pigeon steps to freedom, it occurred to him that collapsing to the floor would probably be even less dignified. Which is a shame, because that's exactly what he did so immediately after standing up.

The grin vanished. "I should be stronger than this," he muttered as he dragged himself back onto the bed for another try. "Even now the Ring should help me compensate..."

He looked down to his chest, of which there was a white and blue striped shirt, but no Millennium Ring. "Oh. Right. Bugger."

The memories still filtered through into Bakuras mind, allowing him to put together a possible location of his most precious possession. "Well, if Marik has it then I really am screwed, but it's not like I have a choice," He announced to no one in particular.

It would take a few more tries and a lot of swearing before Bakura finally steadied himself in an upright position, even managing to make it to the door of his room. He stood at the closed door in the dark, covered in nothing more than a t-shirt and small pair of shorts, and opened it. The unnatural light inside the Airship blinded Bakura for a second, before his eyes could adjust, and shone on his thin, pale body and long, spiky, silver hair. Finding strength in the light guiding his way he shuddered through the grey and white corridors of the blimp, taking particular note of just how empty it was. On his passage to the duel deck he didn't encounter a single other person. He didn't particularly care, in the end, as he was sure someone could shed some light on it later.

After he had half dragged, half walked the stairs leading up to the open air stadium at the top of the blimp he was left overwhelmingly confused and curious. Rather than the sky, with either sun or moon, his gaze was met with a huge metal roof, with industrial sized ceiling lights. He finally drew his attention from this new sight to scan the deck, catching a glimpse of the massive hair over the raised duelling platform that could only mean someone important was there.

He slowly made his way round, owing less to his lack of strength and more as to not alert the individual whose company he was about to engage in. He stood behind the raised platform and took a peek, spying the tall and menacing figure of Marik. Bakura prepared himself to make an appropriately powerful entrance.

"Are you going to be all day, there's only so long I feel like waiting for you to get the balls to come over here," boomed the demonic voice of Marik, catching Bakura off guard and thoroughly ruining any kind of dramatic entrance. Bakura sagged, touched with pangs of disappointment, and made his way towards the bronze skinned man before him.

"How did you know I was there then?" Asked Bakura, careful not to walk too quickly towards Marik.

"Besides the fact your massive spikes give you away over the top of that million dollar monstrosity?" Marik gestured to the duelling platform, and Bakura took care not to look embarrassed by this revelation. "Well, you don't exactly hide your presence very well without this." He pulled out the Millennium Ring on a chain from underneath his purple tank top.

Bakura stopped dead in his tracks, and stared at the golden necklace. Again, he attempted to keep his composure in face of the fact that Marik had all the answers and all the presence and, without the ring, he didn't. "You just carry that around with you?"

"I'm hardly going to leave it in my room. Its power adds to the Rods, and to mine."

At the increasing realisation that there was no way that he was going to win in a conversation involving the items, Bakura decided it was best to change the subject and continue movement towards Marik. "Fine. Now, on a slightly more pressing note, where the bloody hell are we?"

"What can you work out from what you can see?"

Bakura took a brief scan of the outside area. "We're inside a giant metal container."

"Then you know as much as I do."

"Fat load of help you are."

Marik gave his devilish grin that he used so often. "I'd watch yourself if I were you. I'm sure you're not forgetting that I now have two Millennium Items." In the same way that someone would cock a gun to show that they meant business, Marik pulled out the Millennium Rod from the backside of his trousers and held it at his side.

It seemed like any line of conversation was going to lead to them anyway. "It's not like they'll do you any good. All the power of a God Card and you can't even finish off a single spirit."

"Yes, though I could always try again. Even so, I wonder just how you managed to survive complete destruction."

"You're not the first to try, you know. I've built up enough back up plans for my spirit to continue time after time."

"That's not answering my question, that's just being a cocky little bastard."

"So glad you noticed." Bakura gave off a small laugh, before continuing. "The shadow game could only take one spirit, so I hid part of mine in Ryo's to regenerate later. And so here I am."

"Though for how long is up for debate."

Marik began to walk towards Bakura, throwing the silver-haired figure off guard as he tried to slow and stop. He was still clumsy and couldn't avoid the hand that grasped him by the throat and lifted him slightly off the ground. Marik had an evil and excited look in his eye.

"You have no idea just how boring it is here without a decent play thing, but then you come back." The voice gained a darker resonance in the background. "You're a spirit. I can torture you all I want and no one will care. I'll take you elsewhere, feed you to the shadows." The smile on his face grew larger, and hungrier. It was the first time the spirit had ever felt fear. "In fact, why wait? You're mine now."

Marik raised the Rod in his other hand and concentrated, as the eye glowed golden and bright. Bakura's eyes began to turn black, while the spirit inside failed to resist the entry. Bakura's body began to contort, while Marik closed his eyes and entered the others mind. Neither of them got the chance to notice the glowing eye on the Ring that hung from Mariks neck.


	2. Journey to the Mind

Authors note: By the way, this is taking place during the Virtual World saga, in case you didn't get that. So it's perfectly plausible for Yami Marik to exist. Now please enjoy our feature presentation.

Branded 15 for one use of the F-Word and possible excessive violence. Have fun.

Bakura sat on the soft fabric sofa, unsure of where he was or how he got there. He vaguely remembered something involving the dark entity that had taken over Mariks body, but didn't know anything otherwise. The room seemed normal enough, a small room with a plasma television opposite the sofa and a laptop on the coffee table in front of it, next to a number of used glass cups. On the wall to the left of him was a large window pane, which he walked over to slowly, and looked out of it. Opposite was a large block of flats, and below was an abandoned street, devoid of life or vehicles. Bakura remained decidedly calm, noting this was not the strangest thing to happen to him so far in this existence. As he looked around the room he noticed a door on the far side. He stepped quickly to it and turned the doorknob, seemingly having no effect. He looked through the glass eye hole in the door, seeing only white on the other side.

"As always everything decides to be as unhelpful as possible."

He stepped away from the door and turned toward a dresser, the top of it littered with various frames with photographs inside them. Bakura picked one up at random, the silver frame adorned with etchings of flowers. The photograph inside has Ryo in a shot with a number of other people his age, most notably one with spiky hair and a necklace with a pyramid at the end. Bakura placed down the frame carefully, suddenly aware of what was going on as the memories fought to make up for lost time as they filled him in.

"Funny, I thought your mind would look a little...different to this, Bakura."

The sound came from a connected room with an open doorway, the connected kitchen to this living room. There was clinking of glass bottles from there before Marik finally walked out into the same room as Bakura.

"I mean, there's not any alcohol anywhere." Said Marik, looking Bakura up and down with his cold eyes. "And what are you wearing?"

Bakura was only vaguely aware he was still in only his shorts and t-shirt from back on the airship, as he was focusing too much on Marik. The Millennium Ring still hung around his neck, worn as a trophy of victory.

"You're wearing a cape, so you can hardly talk," said Bakura, "And there's no alcohol because this isn't my mind. Ryo doesn't drink, so do you really expect it to show up here?"

"Ryo's mind? What the hell are we doing there? I wanted your mind! I can't do much damage to you here..." Marik began to grow angrier, the demonic background in his voice rising. "But I can still try."

Marik produced the Millennium Rod from the back of his trousers and pointed it directly at Bakura. The eye on the Rod glowed and Bakura found himself flung backwards and through the previously impassable door. The door seemed to just come away from its hinges as Bakura hit it, and landed a short while into the next area. As Bakura opened his eyes he looked around. All that was visible apart from the doorway back into the apartment was just continuous white. Bakura stood up on the door, and continued to look. He could see Marik still in the apartment, walking towards the endless white. Before he could convince himself of sense, Bakura ran in the opposite direction of the doorway until he couldn't see anything but white anymore. He slowed down and stopped, scanning the surrounding white.

"Well, that was a stupid idea. I mean, what the hell am I meant to do now?" He asked to no one in particular, hoping for a kind of response from the world around him. He didn't receive one.

He continued to walk for immeasurable amounts of time, his legs continuously moving until they eventually gave up and he collapsed to the blank floor.

"I shouldn't be tired, this isn't real, and it's all in my head." He thought for a moment. "Well, Ryo's head, but still!"

He lay down on the floor and just stayed there, defeated.

Back in the apartment, Marik refused to leave until he had his fun with Bakura. He adopted the idea that if he waited long enough, Bakura would return. Besides, if he ever got bored, he could just leave. He had the Millennium items linked to this current mind world, making him the only one to be able to leave. Unable to find any beer he had to settle on some bad attempt to flash ferment juice with the Rod. It left a particularly bad taste, but went direct to the part of the brain that controlled the senses and counteracted it. Unable to get signal on the laptop, he took it upon himself to turn on the television.

"Static on every channel. I guess that's what I get for entering a mind that's not fully conscious."

He turned it off and went to stand by the window, when he started to feel a burning sensation in him chest. He looked down and saw that the Ring had begun to glow red hot. Marik tried to grab it to take it off, but it burnt to the touch and forced him off it. Marik let out a monstrous scream as the Ring burned away at his clothes and his flesh, growing continuously hotter and hotter. Then the pain was gone, along with the Ring which had vanished. A wind rolled in from the white expanse beyond the room and blew off Marik's now burnt cape and the singed parts of his tank top, leaving his top half more or less fully exposed. The once bronze skin was blackened and disfigured where the Ring once was. Marik stood there, still stuck in the utmost agony, as he tried to compose himself.

"I don't know how, but I just know this is Bakura's fault." He assured the empty world outside the window, before adding to himself, "I am so going to kill him when he gets back."

The golden light filtered across the blank landscape with ease, still potent by the time it hit and woke Bakura.

He opened his eyes slowly, barely remembering even falling asleep. As he staggered to his feet, the floor feeling like solid wood to his bare feet, he gazed off into the distance at the origin of the light. It was a long shot, but it's not like he had any other options at this point. He ran across the identical plains, towards the increasingly bright light. The sweat dripped down across his face and his slender legs as he ran. The euphoria of having a goal even dulled the realisation that the ground had turned to a white grass rather than the hard floor previously. He slowed as he finally reached the origin, and finally stopped at the same time as the golden light. In this area of blank grassland there stood a tree that was split open at the front and hollow inside. The deep brown of the bark and green of the leaves made it stand out against the world, even the area around it having lush green grass rather than the white that inhabited the rest of this land.

Within the brown tree there was a pale blue light, so pale that it was almost white, and within that was a figure. Bakura walked slowly towards it, savouring the feeling of the grass as he did so.

"What the hell is this?"

The figure inside the tree was floating, naked but with his crotch covered by the pale blue light. The slender and pale body was positively bright compared to the light, and even the long, fluffy silver hair seemed to stand out. His eyes were closed and he was slumped upright, as though in a suspended sleep.

"Ryo? What the hell are you doing here?" Bakura demanded, not really expecting an answer. He looked at the figure, trying to work things out in his own head. "So this is where you go when I force you out of control..."

His eye was taken by a glint of gold, a reflection of the light coming from the tree. It came from the base of the tree, and Bakura went to inspect it. He beamed as he grasped the golden item.

"Finally."

He took up the Ring and placed the chain around his neck. The moment it hit his chest, Bakura felt filled with the power. His muscles became more toned, and his body seemed to glow slightly. The eye on the Ring shone, and released strands of golden light that wrapped itself around Bakura until he was entirely obscured. When the light shattered Bakura was fully clothed in blue jeans, trainers, the usual striped polo shirt and blue short-sleeve shirt covering it, the Ring pride of place on his person.

"It's about damn time I got this thing back."

He turned away from the coloured grove, instinctively knowing where to go now, and ran.

He ran away until it was nothing but white once more, and until he once more found the doorway to the apartment, led by the Ring. He walked through the doorway and made a slight gesture, causing the door to fly back into its original space and connect itself to the hinges once more. Marik turned from his attempts to carve vulgar messages into the walls of the apartment with a knife, standing on the sofa.

"Oh good, you're back. I was beginning to think you weren't going to retu-how did you get my Ring?" Said Marik, happy but perplexed.

The eye on the ring gave off its familiar golden glow as Bakura spoke. "Absolutely no idea. Though I suspect by the burns on your chest it found me itself."

Before Marik could give a response a wind blew from the Ring itself, containing razor sharp strands of golden light, and surrounded him. He was entirely obscured to Bakura until Marik dispelled the wind, appearing with the Rod in hand. He was covered in deep gashes across his entire body and face, his trousers being torn to mere tatters.

Marik's eyes were filled with what seemed to be dark flame. He swung the Rod, creating a pulse that exuded from the eye and reached the entire room. The cups on the table shattered, then the television screen and the frames with the pictures of Ryo, as well as all the glass bottles in the kitchen. Finally the glass window pane shattered outwards, and Bakura was smashed against the door, this time it holding itself up fine.

Marik walked over to Bakura, bleeding heavily on the floor, and picked him up by the throat.

"I know that if I try to kill you you'll just come back, so I shouldn't bother," said Marik to Bakura, who was clutching at the hand choking him. "But you actually managed to hurt me, and I should dignify that with an appropriate response. So here it is."

Marik threw Bakura onto the coffee table with a full force, embedding the shattered pieces of glass from the cups deep into his back. The legs of the table withstood the force and it remained standing, while Bakura screamed out in agony from the pain. The Ring started to show a faint glow, but Marik cut it off early buy using the Rod to shatter the chain and throw it out the now open window. Marik covered Bakura's mouth, stemming the screaming.

"You might be in Ryo's head, but I'm the one in control here. I'm stronger than you, and can take a fuckload more damage than you can." He was shouting at the struggling Bakura now. "You are useless compared to me. Inferior in every way. You think you're powerful? The power of the Ring had barely even come back to you."

Marik released his grip on Bakura quickly as he unsheathed the blade on the Rod, before restraining him once more.

"I'm pretty sure this won't kill you, but it'll keep you under long enough so you can't even try to mess with my plans once they get rolling again. Maybe if they go well enough, I'll simply murder your host. But for now, I shall have to live with the amazing fact that I will have the Ring and you shall not."

Marik plunged the blade into Bakura's chest, causing Bakura to attempt a scream-muffled by Marik's hand. As Marik removed the blade, blood spurted into the air, following the Rods arc.

"Ah, hit the heart first try. I'm so very good at this now."

He swung the Rod again, slashing open Bakura's neck. Marik removed his hand from Bakura's mouth, sure of no more screaming as his mouth filled up with blood.

"I'm sorry; I just didn't want any interruptions. We're almost done here, and I don't really care for anything you have to say anymore."

Marik bled a lot lighter than he did earlier, many of his cuts started to seal up with a faint gold light. He picked up Bakuras body, which gurgled a sort of protest but resulted in nothing more than the splashing of blood onto Mariks chest. Marik walked towards the open window, through which a slight breeze was travelling.

"Well, this is it. It was certainly fun while it lasted, but after all that time waiting, I don't think it was worth it." Marik looked down at Bakura, who was held in his arms. "Just be glad it'll be over soon. Well, this part will be. Who knows what you'll actually wake up to?"

Bakura gave the vague sounds of an attempt to swear, leading Marik to give a broad and evil smile before dropping him out the window.

Bakura hurtled towards the empty street, his body already limp and almost lifeless. The rushing wind didn't let him hear anything, but his half cut eyes allowed him to see Marik watching him as he fell.

"You'll wake up. And he won't be there. There's no way he's going to take down the Pharaoh." He consoled himself inside his head, just before the final seconds when his body finally hit the hard street, head first.

Ryo's body was found the next day, placed clumsily on his bed. He was just as unconscious as when they last checked up on him, showing the same vital signs. The staff never made much effort to try and find out what happened.

Ryo would not awake until after the Battle City finals, and it would be a while until the spirit that was not resting within his body did again.

It is not until after the Battle City Finals, that the story of these two souls continues.


	3. The Unfortunate Meeting

Several weeks after the battle city finals things had finally begun to settle down. Free of the Ring and the spirit that came with it, having woken up without it after Battle City, Ryo began to be able to lead a relatively normal life. He took to his resumed studies with vigour, and coped well despite the fact that he lived in his apartment alone. He had even begun to become bolder in himself, socialising in the evenings when he would usually simply stay with himself indoors. This inevitably led him to staying out and waking up late.

Ryo ran down a short cut to school, the route that follows the various alleyways and side streets that ran between his apartment and Domino City High School. Normally Ryo would travel only along the main streets, always anxious of the vulnerability that he could incur by weaving through the practically unpopulated alleys housed between the various buildings. However, he was left with no other choice if he wanted to get to school on time than to brave the alleys. When he left his apartment he had to get dressed at speed, and it showed with his bedraggled long hair and inexpertly worn blue uniform. The alleys weren't particularly dark, simply shaded from the morning sun, and Ryo paid little heed to his surroundings as he ran as fast as he could.

In all reality, the route wasn't particularly dangerous at all. The last crime that occurred was a mugging weeks ago, and it had stayed relatively quiet ever since, but as Ryo ran he aroused the attention of a small group of people that he passed. His slender frame and rather feminine appearance made Ryo seem a very easy target, and they didn't feel that a schoolboy would be any problem to take on. Despite his determination to get to the school on time Ryo had still failed to take the quickest route due to a lack of in depth knowledge of the area, allowing the hooded youths to overtake him. He turned a corner in the small labyrinth of interconnecting alleyways between flats and warehouses, met with two figures in jeans and hooded tops at the end of the alley. Ryo slowed down until it became a walk and then a stop. The two hoods that covered the figures heads seemed to be looking directly at him.

Seeking an easy way out, Ryo looked over his shoulder behind him. Already the remaining three of the group were advancing slowly down the same exit he had just used. He looked around at the walls frantically. They stood in the shade of two abandoned office blocks, condemned and ready to undergo development. It was a veritable black spot where no one would the event. Hoping that he was misinterpreting it all Ryo took a few steps forward, punctuated by one of the figures in front of him drawing a knife. At the sight of the knife Ryo clutched the messenger bad which hung at his side to his body with his left arm. The threatening people who prevented Ryo's escape were all at least a year older than him, and were all roughly the same height, except for one standing behind him who was considerably smaller.

"Let's make this nice and easy." The voice came from the knife-wielding male. "Hand over everything valuable. Your wallet, your phone, your watch. Or we take it." A smile formed underneath the darkness of the hood. "Violently."

"I don't have anything valuable on me, so you're wasting your time," Ryo responded with full honesty. In his rush this morning he had forgotten to pick up most of his usual accessories, only remembering his keys by near miracle. "Just leave me alone, and go away."

There was movement behind Ryo as the three moved towards him. The figure spoke again.

"Are you sure? Because we're going to have to a search and if we do find something you withheld…" He was playing with the knife in his hand, as though this were enough of a threat.

"I am completely sure." Ryo's voice was becoming frightened, by the sight of the knife and the approaching figures. He suddenly became unsure what they would classify as valuable for the sake of getting a stab in. "Please just go."

Knife still in hand, the leader stepped towards Ryo. "Grab him."

Expecting to be grabbed from behind it came as a great surprised to Ryo when he was shoved sideways and onto the ground. When he looked up he saw that his assailants were still walking towards his apparent savoir. It was almost like that they hadn't even noticed someone shove him out of the way.

His savoir seemed very familiar, wearing the blue uniform of Domino High and sporting long silver hair, similar to Ryo's but spikier, fiercer. Ryo's eyes opened wide as the realisation came crashing down.

"Oh God no," whispered Ryo, a voice silent to all but himself and his usurped body.

Two of the hooded goons grabbed Bakura by the arms, thinking this would be enough to hold such a weakling in place. The leader lowered his hood to look his victim in the eyes, trying to add another layer of intimidation. He was very average looking, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. He held up the knife in front of him to remind Bakura that it was there. "Look through his bag first."

The smaller gang member moved to grab the messenger bag.

Bakura spoke frankly. "Don't touch my things. It won't end well for you if you persist." The gang all noticed the change in the voice. It was much harsher than before.

The small figure looked up to his leader for a sign to continue, and promptly moved to grab the bag after the blonde man gave a slight nod, all the while not taking his eyes off Bakura.

The moment the hand was laid on the bag Bakura moved swiftly and brutally, not giving the group a chance to react. Bakura slammed his head backwards into his captor on the left, causing him to reel and let go of Bakura's arm. He then swivelled and brought his left hand, now a fist, square into the crotch of the one holding his right arm. The hooded figure let go of Bakura's right arm and reacted instinctively by cupping his groin with his hands. Using his right palm Bakura hit and led the outstretched hand of the blonde gang member up, shoving the knife deep into the bottom of the man's skull. There was an immediate burst of blood from the head onto the top of the man before he collapsed onto the hard ground.

Bakura pulled the knife from the head and stood up. Standing parallel to the wall, he saw that to his left were no longer three imposing figures – instead there was a snivelling black haired man, his hood shifted off when he had collapse, quivering in pain, a small figure rapidly fleeing from the scene and one very angry brown haired man with a bloody face and apparently broken nose. To his right were the leader, blood still seeping and gurgling from his head, and the one lackey who had yet to do anything. He still stood there hooded, apparently frozen in fear.

A call came from Bakura's left, as the brown-haired one charged towards him. Bakura effortlessly dodged his clumsy fist and plunged the bladed into his chest. There was a gasp for air from the man as the knife hit its mark. Bakura swivelled towards the last hooded figure, grasping onto the newly-knifed man as a form of human shield. No longer frozen the last gang member held a gun directly towards Bakura and his shield.

"He could still survive, you know," said Bakura, almost sounding reasonable. "Just drop the gun and kick it away, and I could spare his life. Or you can continue being an idiot with that gun and lead to his death."

The hood looked at the corpse on the ground, and sighed. "Why did he have to give me the fucking gun…" The gun was thrown to the floor and away from the scene. "Look, don't hurt him."

The gun landed near where Ryo's spirit was situated, still sitting on the ground waiting for it to be over and for him to find out how he had yet again lost his body to the evil spirit.

Bakura smiled and twisted the blade, causing his shield to scream in agony. "First him…" He threw the body at the disarmed gunman, removing the knife as he did so, knocking the hoodie to the ground, and ran towards the pile-up. "Then you."

Bakura took the knife and plunged it to where he saw the neck underneath the shade of the hoodie. After a lot of blood, and a lot of gurgling, the only living thing left in the alley was Bakura – the other who Bakura had punched in the crotch had mustered the strength to run away in the havoc. He walked away, leaving the knife in the neck of his last victim, and sat down next to Ryo's spirit.

After a few moments of silence it was the body which spoke first. "You could at least say thank you, you know."

"Why would I thank you for this? You killed all these people!" Came the shocked and annoyed response from Ryo.

Bakura was surprised. He was expecting a meek answer. "When did you grow a pair, you ungrateful bastard?"

"It's easy to grow as a person when you don't have some evil tosser inside your head all day. The sheer presence of you was enough to put me down." Ryo stood up, still just a spirit. "Without you? I became assertive."

Bakura stood up as well, not wanting to ever be outmanned by Ryo. "You dare speak to me like that? I don't care how much you've grown. Do you know what I could do to you on a whim?"

"What could you do, honestly?"

"I could destroy your very soul!" Bakura said, becoming more and more agititated.

"Go on then."

"Right!" Bakura shouted, and concentrated hard. After a few moments he stopped bothering, noticing that dark shadows weren't consuming Ryo like he wanted. "I get the feeling you know why I can't do anything." He said, calming down.

"No Ring. When you were fighting those thugs you used your fists. I've seen you just kill them instantly by using the rings power before. Without it, you're just as strong as me." Ryo proclaimed, triumphantly.

"Great, so now I'm essentially trapped in your body until I get can my Ring back." Bakura pondered on this for a moment. "Who has it?"

"I don't know. When I woke up after the tournament, it was just gone. I never really asked about it, seeing as you had seemed to have gone with it. Obviously, that wasn't the case."

"I don't need the ring to survive. I can put a tiny piece of me inside your soul, and that'll be enough to bring me back. It just took me a bit longer without any millennium item influence." Bakura sighed, and continued. "Look, seeing as I'm going to need you to get anything done around here, I'm going to strike you a deal. You don't tell your spiky haired friend that I've returned, and I won't make your life a living hell."

"How could you possibly make it a living hell?"

"I could not give back control of this body for one. Or I could get you arrested for all of this." He gestured to the corpses that still lay in the alleyway. "I'm trying to be reasonable here. I need to figure out what the hell I'm going to do now, and I get the idea your body is the only thing keeping me alive anymore."

Ryo wasn't intimidated by Bakura as much anymore. Without the ring, it was like a part of him was missing – the part that made his truly threatening. Even as he looked at the corpses he was still reminded that he was essentially human now, and that limited him. Bakura still had Ryo in his grasp, though. He had taken his body by force once by himself now; it wasn't hard to see he could do it again.

"Fine. This will stay with us." Said Ryo, after a lot of consideration. _It's not like I've got much choice, really. He's got the stronger will than me; I don't want to be locked out permanently. _

Bakura grabbed Ryo's hand and pulled his spirit into the body, leaving it as he pulled. "Good. I didn't feel like threatening you anymore than I had to."

Ryo gave a thoroughly fake smile and went to walk down the route he had intended. He didn't show it, but everything had seemed to have overwhelmed him. The shock and horror of the murder and of the spirits return had reached a peak and had sent him into a calm state.

"So, where are we going?" Inquired Bakura, trailing slightly behind Ryo as they both picked up speed to a jog.

"The school and I think I'm late."

"The school?" Bakura smiled at this revelation, already knowing what his next step was. Maybe he wouldn't have to stay on equal terms with Ryo after all. He'd be put back into his place above him. "Fantastic."

* * *

And so with each passing chapter I become more and more convinced I'm destroying every character in this fanfic. Still, at least Ryo's actually in this one. Even if every fangirl who reads this is appalled at how un-cutesy he is.

As always, reviews would be greatly appreciated – especially criticism.

I think I may make these additions to the bottom every time now…

Oh yes, and sorry it took so long.

~DW


	4. First Day of School

It wasn't long until the two Bakura's finally reached Domino High, the school which Ryo, and anyone who he could even remotely call 'friend' at this point, went to. Ryo was still jogging by the time he reached the school gates, still on time despite his run in not too long ago. The spirit who had been following him for the last few blocks no longer saw a point in keeping his spectral feet on the ground and had taken to simply floating next Ryo. In the courtyard there were a number of large gatherings of students around what appeared to be the vision of a dragon fighting some kind of chimera ,and Ryo slowed down to a slow walk to try and look without getting off track.

"This place is surprisingly lenient towards Duelling, considering all that could go wrong," said the dark spirit in an absent minded way.

"Considering the amount of time it allows off for students to go to tournaments I wonder if they care at all, really, but I have to go somewhere to study." Ryo suddenly noticed something foreboding in the spirits words. "Wait, what do you mean by 'all that could go wrong'?"

"Well, there's always stealing, for one. But then think of all we've been through – chances are one of these people are probably some kind of ancient Roman spirit seeking to destroy the world and get revenge through this card game." He made a vague gesture towards a mob of teenagers cheering at a holographic explosion.

"You sound almost like you're mocking yourself."

The spirit was suddenly too interested in his own idea to pay attention to Ryo. "From what I've seen I would be surprised if Julius Caeser inhabited one of these teenagers' bodies." The gathering dispersed as the Duel ended, many of the watchers running off to another of the matches going on. The victor of the duel, a spiky haired, arrogant looking boy, took some kind of prize from his opponent and began to walk towards the front door of the school. The spirit pointed at him. "Him. It's definitely him."

"Can you stop being so silly? I need to get to class."

"One moment." The spirit put his spectral hand into Ryo's head and took control for a brief moment, forced Ryo to turn and shout several lines of Latin in the direction of the boy, who simply looked confused. Bakura retrieved his hand. "He's hiding it well, I'll give him that."

Ryo reached the front door of the school and opened towards the large corridor of lockers and students. "I didn't know you knew Latin," said Ryo, half impressed.

"I've been around for four thousand years with no revenge in sight; I know a lot of things. I'll have you know I'm very handy with a sword."

"You use that skill often?"

"You'd be surprised."

By the time the bell went Ryo was already sitting in his place in his class, though a number of seats in front of him were absent of their students. The spirit floated down to one of these seats and sat, where he sat fidgeting.

"Where the hell is he…" The spirit sounded very agitated as he sat, looking between the door and Ryo.

"Noone in this room at the moment your type?" Said Ryo, not even looking up from the notes he was reading. Even in a classroom with a number of other students in it no one was paying the least bit attention to Ryo. Though it usually annoyed him at how ignored he was, when you've got an invisible conversational partner it does come in handy.

The spirit shot him a dark look and turned back to look at the door. After a brief moment the spirit thoroughly failed to sound innocent when he asked Ryo "Yugi is in your class, isn't he?"

Ryo dropped his notes onto his desk and once more looked at his counterpart. "Alright, I know you're planning something," he said in a less-than-hushed whisper, "And if it involves Yugi it's never going to be good. Assure me for once that you're not going to kill him."

Bakura tried to look hurt and, again, failed. His innocent acting was easy for Ryo to see through, after all Ryo acted the same when he wanted. "I had no intention of murdering the boy, honest. Not this time at least. You may be right that I have a plan, but it won't harm anyone, I swear."

For some reason this rang with the truth in Ryo's ears, so he went back to his notes and didn't press the matter. His best bet was just to wait and see what would happen. For several minutes the pair sat in silence, aside from the occasional mumbling from the spirit in impatience. After several minutes of waiting the bell rang, signalling the start of the lesson. Bakura threw Ryo several annoyed looks, in the hope of stirring some action in him, but Ryo was involving in the lesson now. The spirit slumped in the seat with a face like thunder.

It was a good half an hour of torture for the spirit. The first lesson was, annoyingly enough, on Ancient Egyptian History. For half an hour he had to sit through statements of what he had already lived through, in parts, occasionally shouting about inaccuracies to the class at general and only being heard by one apathetic boy. The monotony was only broken when, at last, familiar figures ran into the classroom. The spirit only barely registered the vague figures that passed before him, except for one. The short, spiky haired boy moved to sit where the spirit was lounging, the golden pyramid that always accompanied him hanging from his neck. The dark spirits eyes lit up as he saw it, moving his hand out to touch it as it came closer through both their movements. His fingers were just about to touch the puzzle…

A sudden pulse, felt only by the two Bakuras, came from the puzzle. It gave Ryo a shiver down his spine, but threw the ancient spirit from the chair onto the floor. He grasped at his throat, as though he were being strangled by some unknown force. For several seconds he struggled unseen by most on the floor, gasping in fear and pain, looking up towards Ryo who could only look down with terror at the figure. The spirits hands stopped grasping, his eyes closed and his head rolled back to hit the floor, before his body simply faded away. This activity was only seen by Ryo, who was panting heavily and given a cold sweat from seeing his counterpart vanish in such a way.

The newcomers to the room took their seats at last, prompting the teacher to break his momentary silence that he had begun once they had entered the classroom. "Well, I'm glad the four of you could join us, Motou, Jonouchi, Honda and Mazaki. I shall talk to you after the lesson as to how it came that you're so late. You'll have to use someone else's notes to catch up, I'm afraid. Bakura, are you okay? You look awful."

Ryo's first answer was a vague squeak before he regained his voice. "I'm fine, sir."

"Right. Well, good, I'll carry on then."

Ryo was shaken for the rest of the day, his concentration always sapped in one respect or another by the vision of the figure choking on the floor, gasping for air and struggling at his throat. Moment by moment the person who Ryo feared most was breaking apart before him, becoming weaker and weaker, even pitiable. What had once made him so terrifying had simply gone, leaving him little more than a nuisance. He could hardly believe he actually cared whether the vanishing that had just occurred was permanent or not.

_Moron. You heard what he said before; he'll survive through a shard of his soul in you. He'll appear out of nowhere, just you wait._

Ryo declined to stay at school longer than he needed to, practically racing to get back home and lie down. He took the long way, though; avoiding the alleyway he had such trouble with that morning. He barely noticed anything on his way back, reaching his apartment block before he knew it. He took his usual routine of collecting his post before finally going up to his apartment.

He lived alone, as he had done for many years at this point. Well, as alone as he could ever get with the presence of the ring. His parents, in a perpetual state of travelling, funded his life at this point, paying for whatever it is that Ryo wanted. As such he had quite a nice apartment, with all the fixtures and fittings he could need. He turned on his plasma television to the news, as he always did, and walked towards the kitchen to grab himself a drink. He gazed into his fridge, suddenly wishing he did occasionally buy alcohol – he suddenly felt the need for a stiff drink. He was forced to settle for a branded cola, though he didn't care which one. Ryo felt they all tasted the same, in the end.

He sat down on the sofa and started to pay attention to the news. It was all the usual things; economic, political and social things that Ryo pretended to care about simply because he felt it was the right thing to do. It was when it switched over to the local news that he really took interest. His face turned paler at the sight of the top news story, however. On a banner below the newscaster was the headline: Bodies found near Domino High, Police currently undergoing murder investigation.

Ryo picked up the remote and turned off the TV, throwing the remote down beside him on the sofa. He had once more thrown himself into a panic, and was reminded of those people being stabbed by what looked like him, and then his mind once more turned to the choking vision of what was essentially a darker version of him on the floor. He felt weak, and decided enough was enough for that day, and with that he drifted to his bed, got dressed, and attempted to get to sleep – any homework could wait at this point.

* * *

So, here we are again with the amazingly late lateness. Sorry I haven't updated, I just couldn't be bothered but once more the story won't leave my head. In case you haven't guessed, updates shall come whenever I'm bored.

Anyway, comments and criticism and blahdeblah would be great.

-DW


End file.
